Sewing-machine ruffler.



H. M. GREIST.

SEWING MACHINE RUFFLER. APPLICATION FILED 11110.4, 1913.

1,1 07,420, Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

witnesses.-

9 blfomwn o THE Annie-'5 PETFES 60., PHOTO-LITHO WASHINGTON. D. Cv

j UNITED STATES. PATEN OFFTCE,

HUBERT M. GREIST, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE GREIST MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

SEWING-MACHINE nurrnnn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1914.

Application filed August 4, 1913. Serial No. 782,893.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HUBERT M. Gnnisr, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and This invention relates to that class of sewing machine rufflers adapted to make a plait or gather at each stitch, or, if it be desired to make wider plaits, to form only a single plait while several stitches are being made, Itufliers of this class have generally been known commercially as five-stitch rufflers, in that they have heretofore usually been so constructed that when wider plaits are being made they make one gather or plait for each five stitches of the sewing machine; and the present invention has for its object to improve the class of rufllers referred to by the addition of a single simple part which may be so adjusted that when the wider plaits or gathers are being made one plait or gather may be formed for each five stitches of the sewing machine, or for each ten stitches, thus increasing the range of variation of work which may be performed.

Ruffiers of the class referred to comprise ratchet wheels having deep and shallow notches forming teeth. Usually each ratchet wheel has two deep notches diametrically disposed on the wheel, with four shallow notches between the deep notches. operating lever is provided with a pawl or pawls serving to rotate the ratchet wheel and to operate a pendulous lever to which latter the rufiiing blade or carrier is connected. By a simple adjustment of the pawl or pawls the rutliing blade may be operated, to form a ruflie or gather, at each vibration of the operating lever which is adapted to be actuated from the needle-bar of the sewing machine; or the ruffling blade may be caused to form one rufi'ling stroke during each five reciprocations of the needlebar. Thus when the ruifling blade is caused to act to form a ruffle orgather at each reciprocation ofthe needle-bar a ruffle or gather will of course be formed at each stitch made by the machine; and when the rufliing blade performs one rufiiing stroke during each five reciprocations of the needle The bar a gather or plait will be made only during the formation of each five stitches. The present nvention provides an adjustable stop device which, when desired, may be shifted into a position to fill up the inner part of one of the deep notches of the ratchet wheel, so that, with a ten-notch ratchet wheel, and when the parts are adjusted to make wide gathers or plaits, only a single gather or plait will be made during the formation of ten stitches of the sewing machine. This improvement therefore adapts the ruffier for making a gather or plait either at each stitch, at each five stitches, or at each ten stitches of the sewing machine.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a side View of a well-known form of sewing machine ruffier with the invention applied thereto and showing the parts adjusted for making one rufiie or gather at each five stitches of the sewing machine. Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the parts adjusted for making one ruffle or plait at each ten stitches of the sewing machine. Fig. 3 is a side view of the ruffier opposite to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but with the parts adjusted for making a ru'liie orgather at each stitch of the sewing machine. Fig. 4: is a detail perspective view of the adjustable stop constituting the present added improvement. The fivestitch rufiier to which the present improvement is herein shown as being applied is that covered by U. S. Patent No.

1,011,907, dated Dec. 19, 1911, although it will be understood that the present improvement is equally applicable to any form of five-stitch ruflier comprising a ratchet wheel having deep and shallow notches.

Referring to the drawing,l2 denotes the body of the frame of the rufiier, and which frame is preferably provided with an integral attaching portion or shank 13 by which it may be secured to the presser-bar of a sewing-machine in substitution of an ordinary presser-foot. The forked operating lever 14 is pivotally mounted on a stud 15 riveted to an upright portion of the frame 12. Also pivotally mounted on the said stud are an oscillating plate 16, a ratchet-wheel 17 and a pendulous or secondary lever 18, the latter being jointed at its lower end to the carrier 19 for the ruffiing blade 20. The oscillating plate 16 is provided with a projection 21 engaged by an adjustable regulating screw 22 mounted onthe operating lever 14, said oscillating plate having a projection or shoulder 23 adapted to engage a front upper portion of the said pendulous lever for elfect-ing the backward or retractive movements of said,

lever, and of the rufl'ling blade connected therewith. The regulating screw 22 permlts, according to its position of ad ustment, of more or less lost motion between the operating lever 14: and the oscillating plate 16, so that any desired length of stroke may be imparted to the ruifling' blade from said. operating lever. The pendulous lever 18 is provided at its top with a shoulder 24 and the ratchet-wheel is provided with two relatively deep notches 25 between each of which, in the form of th invention herein shown, are groups of four relatively-shallow notches 26.

Pivotally mounted on the operating lever 14 are two spring-pressed pawls 27' and28 which, by means of a partial rotation of'the pin or rivet 29, may be brought into horizontal register with each other, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, when wide plaits or gathers construction and operation ofvthese parts,

performing either single or five-stitch ruffling, is fully set forth in said Patent No.

1,011,907.- The ratchet-wheel 17 is frictionally held against backward rotation,

when the operating pawls are being retracted, by means of a spider spring 51 rotating with said ratchet-wheel, and interposed between said spider spring and ratchet-wheel, and pivotally mounted on the pin 15, is an adjustable arm or stop 52, of thin spring metal, so as to be adapted to be.

retained in any desired position of adjustment by its own resilience, said arm or stop. rotating with the said ratchet wheel. TlllS;

arm or stop is provided with a side projection or finger piece 53 for its convenientmanipulation, and comprises a stopping part 5-1 which may be brought into position to fill or close the lower part of one of the deep notches 25 in the ratchet-wheel 17. Thus when the said adjustable arm or stop is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the adjacentdeep notch 25in the ratchet-wheel will be,

unobstructed; but when the said; arm or stop is shifted to the position shown in Fig. 2 the lower part of said deep notch 25 will be' is making ten stitches; I improvement widens the range of work which may be performed by the use of sewing-machine ruttlers of the class under consideration, so that such r-ufliers are adapted to make a ruflle or gather either at. each istitch, at each five stitches,'or at each ten stitches, as may be desired by the operator.

The

partly filled by the portion 54 of: the said arm or stop, so that said notch will have a working depth equal to the depth of the shallow notches 26. Wit-h the parts thus adusted, asshown in Fig. 2, the pawl 27 will be held out of engagement with the shoulder 24 on the pendulous lever 18 during the passage of nine of the ten notches in the ratchetwheel, and can only be lowered into a position to engage said shoulder when the unobstructed deep notch 25 is brought around to a positionto be entered bysaid l pawl. From this it will be understood that :the rutfiing blade 20 will be: caused to per form a rullling stroke only once during a? full rotation of the ratchet-wheel 17, and as the said ratchet wheel, in the form of the invention herein shown, is provided with ten 1 notches, only a single gather or plait will be formed during the time when the machine Thus the present The invention by which a five-stitch rufl'ler maybe changed to a ten-stitch ruiiler is notto be understood as being limited. to

the particular form of'the adjustable arm or stop herein shown and by which the working depth of oneofthe deep notches of the ratchet-wheel may be varied, as the said arm or stop may be difi'erent in form and still be adaptedtov serve its intended function. It will also be understood that the terms five-stitch and ten-stitch as hereinbetore used are not intended to indicate that the invention is applicable only to a-ruflier making relatively wide plaits'at either-five stitches or ten stitches of the sewing machine, but may have reference to a rufiier employing a ratchet-wheel having a d fferent number of notches than the ratchetwheel herein shown, so that-relatively wide plaits or gathers may be made during the formation of more or less than five stitches or ten stitches ofthe sewing machine.

Having thusv described my invention I claim and desireto secure by Letters Pat- In a sewing machine ruliler, the combination with a willing blade, of an operating lever, a pawlcarried'by said lever, a pendulo us lever connected with said ruflling blade andprovided atits top with a shoulder to be engaged, at times, by said pawl, an intermittently rotating ratchet wheel actuated by said pawl and provided with groups'of shallow notches which will prevent said pawl from engaging said shoulder and with single deep notches between said groups of shallow notches, and. which deep notches will permit said pawl to engage said shoulmovement of the ruffling blade operated 10 der to operate said rufiiing blade, and an adthrough said pawl and pendulous lever. justable arm or stop mounted to rotate In testimony whereof I affix my signature, with said ratchet-wheel and adapted to flie in presence of two witnesses.

moved into a position when esired, to l or obstruct the inner part of one of said HUBERTM' GREIST' deep notches and thus change its working Witnesses:

depth and make it practically a shallow W. E. GREIST,

notch, and thereby vary the frequency of H. B. DARTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). 0. 

